Dear Colleagues!

In my lectures, I sometimes tell about how I found myself at one endocrinologic training event. The lecturer (a well-known endocrinologist professor) asked the audience: "Colleagues, is obesity: a) promiscuity, b) a pathological process, c) a disease?". Everyone voted unanimously for "c", and only I - the only general practitioner in the audience - abstained. When the somewhat surprised presenter asked for an explanation, the answer was something like this: "In my opinion, obesity is promiscuity at all stages, which triggers a pathological process, which in turn leads to multi-organ disease. Then there was a short, but quite Gogol-like, silent scene.

By promiscuity I do not mean something that goes beyond the bounds of decency and causes predatory itching of censors, not at all! I mean... a deficit of will that prevents a person from keeping themselves in check and restricting the flow of carbohydrates into their mouths. I'm referring to the "All the fat people are getting fat and my metabolism is broken" attitude. I am referring to the hidden benefits (yes, yes, exactly the benefits!) that unconsciously finds in his position of the patient who is always dreaming of losing weight, but somehow does not get any closer to this dream.

I once lost 24 kilograms. It is a difficult path... But a path on which the spirit is hardened. And in this issue, dedicated to endocrinology, we have devoted a lot of space to psychological and therapeutic issues of obesity.

Enjoy your reading!

Prof. I.V. Egorov